For quite some time, fans of Pokemon Go have speculated on how to catch the elusive Ditto. Many believed the critter to be attainable only in a specific region, like Kangaskhan and Farfetch’d are, with many thinking that Ditto was only available in Africa. By filtering out the multitude of Photoshop projects, it didn’t take long to determine Ditto simply wasn’t in the game. Even Game Theory’s MatPat in his recent video Pokemon Go’s Tragic End, which was uploaded earlier today, made specific mention about the game not having Ditto. However, all over Twitter, more and more Ditto proof is turning up with videos and pictures that surely can’t all be spoofed.
Managed to get another video of catching Ditto, this time it transformed from a Rattata @trnrtips #PokemonGO #ditto pic.twitter.com/s45wGgFnxc
— Nick from WhatUpMC (@WhatUpMC) November 23, 2016
WE GOT ONE! #PokemonGO pic.twitter.com/DXYyhhAyZ7
— MYSTIC7 (@witelightingHWD) November 23, 2016
I don’t know how this happened, my Ratata turned into a Ditto! #Wtf #pokemonGO @DNR_CREW pic.twitter.com/4FfUoIBd71
— Primordial Echo (@PrimEcho_Dan) November 23, 2016
He’s real! #PokemonGo #DoubleEXP #Ditto #BestDayEver pic.twitter.com/UD2KnN7VHI
— Chris Van Dyk (@ChrisVanDyk85) November 23, 2016
Basically, what’s happening here is that the Ditto are doing what they do best, impersonating other Pokemon. Players are catching typical wild Pokemon, only to have them transform in the way a Pokemon usually evolves in Pokemon Go. There’s a big flash of light and the Pokemon initially caught is registered as a Ditto. This means that any Pokemon caught right now could be a Ditto, one of the rarest Pokemon in the game aside from region specific ones.
The big question here is why? Why now of all times did Niantic push this through, without any clarification about what was happening and leaving players to stumble upon it. Granted it makes for a great marketing push. One friend tells another how Ditto is actually a possible catch and that person opens the app for perhaps the first time in ages. The process repeats until its more wide spread than any sort of targeted marketing could accomplish.
Will this be enough to spark Pokemon Go back into popularity? Only time will tell as its initial success was a flash pan of excitement. There have also been rumors of Gold and Silver Pokemon making their way into the game soon as well.
Niantic has yet to react to Ditto appearing in the game, with their last official tweet being on November 17th.
UPDATE: Via the short press release sent to us by Niantic, Ditto is now available. The Pokemon also has the unique function of being able to Transform into its opponents during gym battles. Ditto will acquire not only appearance, but moves and types of the first Pokemon it faces and will keep that form until the end of the battle.
